Combined stamping and counting machine



April 21, 1925.

S. J. KUZIEL COMBINED STAMPlNG AND COUNTING MACHINE I 6 Sh ets-Sheet 2 Filed June 28, 1924 snow tot April 21, 1925.

S. J. KUZIEL COMBINED STAMPlNG AND COUNTING MACHINE Filed Jufie 28, 1924 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 S. J. KUZIEL COMBINED STAMPlNG AND COUNTING MACHINE April 21, 1925.

Filed June 28, 1924 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 avwontoz April 21, 1925.

S. J. KUZIEL COMBINED STAMPlNG AND COUNTING MACHINE Filed June 28, 1924 .6 Shets-Sheec 5 combines Patented Apr. 21, 1925.

1,534,530 PATENT OFFICE.

STANLEYJ. KUZIE'L, F HOLYOKE, MASSACHUSETTS.

COMBINED STAMPING AND COUNTING MACHINE.

Application filed June as, 1924.. Serial No, 723,054.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, STANLEY J. KUZIEL, a citizen of the United States, and resident of 29 Bridge St, Holyoke, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Combined Stamping and Counting Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in combined envelope stamping machines and counters, and it is the principal object of the invention to provide a machine of this character which can easily be operated even by unskilled operators and which will perform its work accurately and positively.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a machine of this character which the envelop stamper with a counter counting the number of stamps used and one which permits either the counting of a limited number of stamps or the :ounting of considerable quantities, if a great number of letters is to be stamped;

It is a further object o-f'the invention to provide a machine of this character which i may be used for the dispensing of postal stamps, revenue stamps or other like articles and which keeps an accurate count on the number of stamps used.

A. still further object of the invention is the provision of a machine of this kind which automatically separates the single stamps which are wound from a roll at the place of the perforation between each pair of stamps, and which allows a ready eX- change of the roll of stamps.

It is also anobject of the invention toprovide a machine of this character whichis equipped with means for automatically moistening the stamps during their passage through. the machine.

Furthermore, the invention relates to a r combined stamping machine and counter provided with means for correctly gaging the envelops, so that the stamps are properly aflixed at the proper place by novel means for affixing the stamp to the envelop or the like, allowing the afiixing of one or more stamps at a time if this is required.

The invention also relates to the proper combination of the above outlined stamping machine with a counter keeping tally of every stamp used at the proper time and allowing a ready adjustment of the machine to either count a restricted number of stamps or to keep'account of stamps used in i great numbers as in circularizing, etc.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a machine of this type with novel ,means for operating the cutter separating the single stamps from their roll at their perforations.

The invention also embraces novel means for holding and securing the roller carrying the roll of stamps in the machine, and means for allowing a convenient operation of the machine for the execution of the single operating steps at the proper time and in the proper relative operations;

These and other objects and advantages of my novel machine will become more fully apparent as the description thereof proceeds,

and will then be specifically pointed out in the accompanying drawings and claims appended to the description.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a material part of this disclosure:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a machine constructed according to the present invention, part of the casing thereof being broken away to illustrate the interior construction.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of a novel holder for the roller carrying the roll of stamps to be dispensed by the machine.

Figure 3 is afront elevation thereof.

Figure tie a front elevation of the machine with the casing removed.

Figure 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the machine, the section being taken on line 5-5 of Figure 8.

Figure 6 is a cross-section on line 7--7 of Figure 4.

Figure 7 is a cross-section on line 77 of Figure 4c.

Figure 8 is anend View of the machine seen in the direction of the arrows 8--8 Figure 4.

Figure 9 is a section on line 9-9 of Figure 5.

Figure 10 is a fragmentary rear view along line 10-10 of Figure 1.

Figure 11 is an end view of the machine seen from the opposite end shown in Figure 8, with the casing broken away and seen in the direction of line 11-11 of Figure 10.

A casing 10 covers the entire machine which is mounted on a base-plate 11 on which are also erected vertical partition Well .12 a d 3.

The strip of stamps 14 containing any number of stamps separated from each other by the customary perforations indicated at 15, is wound upon a roller 16 rotating around a shaft 17 removably held between. the lower ends of a detachable frame comprising a front member 18 preferably made of sheet metal provided with a plurality of recesses or incisions 19 to form tongues 20 and 21 adapted to be bent out of the plane of member 18. The frame member 18 has an upper handle 22 integral therewith and bent to form a shoulder 23 to the inner lower face of which is secured an eye through which a pintle 24 is passed, the ends of which are also passed through juxtaposed eyes on top of the rear member 25 of the frame in order to hingedly secure the same to the front member 18.

The member 25 is also provided with a suitable number of tongues 26 and 27 similar to the tongues 20 and 21 and oppositely disposed thereto when the frame members are adjusted to form the frame. Both the front and the rear member 18 and 25 have legs 28 and 29 respectively, bent to form shoulders 30 and 31 by means of which the frame rests on the bottom walls of longitudinal slots formed in the partition walls 12 and 13 respectively in the manner illustrated in Figures 4 and 5. An upper tongue 32 on member 25 limits the inward movement of said member, and the tongues 20, 21, 26 and 27 bent out of the plane of members 18 and 25 respectively engage, when the device is placed into the machine between the walls 12 and 13, the outer faces of these walls in the manner illustrated in Figure 4.

The roll of stamps is designated 33 and wound upon the roller 16 in the well known manner so that it can be readily placed into the frame when the same is removed from the machine by simply spreading the lower ends of the frame members 18 and 25 which form a bearing for the shaft 17 of roller 16 apart as will be evident.

The stamp strip unwound from the roller is advanced by a suitable mechanism more fully to be described hereafter, and guided over a suitable table or support 34 between the partition walls 12 and 13 and between upper and lower guide rolls 35 and 36 under a knife blade 37.

The mechanism for advancing the stamp strip 14 comprises a plunger 38 provided at its upper end with an operating knob 39 vertically reciprocating in front of the partition wall 12 in suitable guides 40 and 41 between which a spiral spring 42 is wound about the plunger rod, the lower end of which rests against guide 40, while its upper end rests against a collar on said plunger rod.

An p ng bar 44 f the r be illustrated in Figure 4, has its rear end perforated for permitting the passage of rod 38 between upper guide 41 and the collar 43. To the outer flattened end of bar 44 is pivotally secured, as at 45, one arm 46 of a bell-crank lever, the other arm of which, 47, is at one end pivotally secured, as at 48, to arm 46, while its lower end is keyed to a shaft 49 in partition wall 12 which carries a ratchet wheel 50 laterally disposed to a gear 51 also 011 shaft 49, and a pawl 52 con: trolled by a spring 53, prevents a rotation of the gear in the wrong direction.

The gear 51 meshes with a smaller gear 54 on a shaft 55 mounted in the wall of a suitable casing 56 in front of partition 12 and in the latter. This shaft carries a larger gear 57 in mesh with a small gear 58 on the shaft 59 for the lower guide roller 36 for the stamp strip 14.

Gear 58 meshes with a gear 60 on the shaft 61 for the upper guide roller The knife 37 has a forward directed arm or nose 62 to which is attached one end of a spring 63, the other end of which is attached to the machine frame as at 64. The knife is normally held out of engagement with the stamp strip 14 by means of a nose or finger 65 on which it rests and which is formed with a plunger bar 66 intermediate the ends thereof which is equipped with an upper operating knob 67 and is guided between an upper guide 68 and a lower guide 69 on partition wall 12 for vertical reciprocation A shoulder 70 is formed on bar 66 and a spring 71 is wound about bar 66 between said shoulder 70 and the lower guide member 69.

It Will be clear that upon the depression of the plunger bar 66 the nose 65 thereof will be disengaged from the nose 62 of knife 37 and the spring 63 will then act to carry the knife down against the strip of stamps 14 which at this time passes with one of its perforations over an opening 72 in table 34.

Pivotally secured to the side face of plunger bar 66, as at 73 is the upper end of one arm 74 of a lever, the other arm 75 of which is at one end pivotally secured to arm 74, while its opposite end is keyed to a shaft 76 to which is attached a sprocket wheel 77. A large gear 78 on shaft 76 meshes with a gear 79 on a shaft 80 which carries also a larger gear 81.

To wheel 78 a pawl 82 is pivoted and adapted to engage the teeth of sprocket wheel 77 to hold the same against rotation in the wrong direction, while a spring 83 presses the pawl firmly into engagement with the teeth of the sprocket wheel.

The gear wheel 81 meshes with a small gear 84 on a shaft 85 which carries also a larger gear 86 in mesh with a smaller gear 87 on a shaft 88 which also carries the lower guide roller 89 for the stamp. Gear 87 in turn meshes with agear 90 on a shaft 91 which carries the upper guide roller 92 for the stamp.

The shaft 80 carries between the partition walls 12 and 13 a porcelain roller 93 revolving within a tank 94 adapted to be filled with water, while shaft 85 carries an upper guide roller 95 in engagement with roller 93 for feeding the stamp moistened by the water carried on the mantle of the porcelain roller 93 forward between the guide rollers 89 and 92.

The water tank 94 is equipped with a suit able gage illustrated in Figure 9, including a vertically disposed pipe 96 connected with the tank by a lower horizontal pipe 97 and an upper branch pipe 98 parallel to the lower pipe 97. A cap 99 closes the upper end of pipe 96 and allows a filling of the tank if it is desired to renew the water supply. The pipe 96 at the same time acts as an overflow when the cap is removed to indicate by the water flowing out of its upper mouth that the filling of the tank is completed.

A plunger rod or bar 100 carrying at its upper end an operating knob 101 is guided at its lower part in the guide bracket 102 secured to the inner face of wall 12 (Fig. 8), and the rod 100 passes near its upper end through an opening in an arm 103 of an angular operating lever 104 serving a purpose later to be more fully explained. A collar 105 keyed to rod 100 rests on arm 103- and a spring 106 is wound about the rod 100 between said arm 103 and the guide bracket 102. The lower end of the plunger rod 100 carries a presser-plate 107 adapted to be pressed against a stamp deposited by guide rollers 89 and 92 against an envelope introduced through a slot 108 in the rear partiticn wall 13, and eventually passing through slot 108' in the front partition wall 12, and resting on a plate 109 between walls 12 and 13.

A bracket 110 is attached to the outer face of wall 12 and rectangularly disposed there to, and a slide or gage plate 111 havingan upstanding margin is displaceably secured to the bracket 110 and can be locked in any of its adjusted positions by means of a screw 112 provided with a knob.

The counting mechanism for the stamps is contained within a casing 113 attached to the rear wall of partition 13.

The counting mechanism comprises a pair of comparatively large rollers 114 and 115 The bands or tapes are guided at the opposite end of the machine over suitable, smaller guide rollers 119 and 120 on a divided shaft 121. This shaft carries between the partition wall 13 and the inner roller 119, a ratchet wheel 122 between the teeth of which the lower downwardly directed end of the arm 103 extends, so that upon the operation of the plunger rod 100 to aiiiX a stamp to an envelope, the ratchet wheel will be turned or advanced one step, and the tape is also advanced one step represented by the numerals carried thereby, so that the number of stamps used will be indicated and can be read through a window 123 in the casing 113 enclosing the rollers and the tapes as for instance the numeral 38 will appear in front of this window as shown in Figure 8 if 38 stamps have been used.

011 a lower shaft 124 within casing 113 are secured two feed rollers 125 and 126 respectively for the tapes 117 and 118, and between said rollers, the shaft carries a small gear 127 in mesh with a large gear 128 on the part of shaft 121 carrying the roller 120 for the outer tape 118.

A stop or shifter 129 provided with teeth and having the form of an arc is secured to the band 117 opposite to the numeral 50 thereon. so that after the affixing of 50 stamps by the machine it will engage the gear 127 and turn the gear 128 to move the band 120 forward for one step to indicate behind the window130, Figure 8, the total number or the manifold of 50 of the stamps used.

The device operates as follows 2- The roll of stamps, postal, revenue or other stamps of any description or denomination is introduced into the holder which has been removed from the machine by lifting it out of the same by means of the handle 22 after the prongs 20, 21, 26 and 27 have been properly disengaged from walls 12 and 13, so that member 25 may be swung around its hinge to allow the introduction of the roller shaft 17 into the corresponding openings in members 18 and 25, and the holder and roll of stamps are then introduced into the machine with the members in engagement with the slots in the partition walls 12 and 13 so that their leg shoulders 30 and 31 rest upon the bottom of the slots, whereupon prongs 20,, 21, 26 and 27 are again bent to engage: the outer walls of partitions 12 and 13 and the holder and roll are securely held in the machine.

If now plunger rod 38 is depressed, guide rollers 35 and 36 will be operated to grip the outer end of the stamp strip 14 which has been unwound for some length from the roll and introduced between said guide rollers, and feed the strip over table 34 under theknife. The parts are so selected and their movements are so timed that upon each operation of the plunger 88 the strip will be advanced'for a distance that always places a perforation under the knife 37.

lVhen now the plunger 66 is properly operated, its depression will remove its nose from engagement with arm 62 of the knife which will lose its support so that the spring 63 will operate the knife to cut one stamp from the strip which will engage the porcelain roller 93 which has been operated at the same time by the depression of plunger 66 through the gear and lever connec tions so that the moistened stamp now, under the action of the guide roller 95 co-operating with the porcelain roller, will be advanced between the guide rollers 89 and 92 to be deposited upon an envelope introduced through slot 108, and resting on plate 109.

The consequent operation of plunger 100 will press its base-plate 107 against stamp and envelope and affix the stamp to the envelope at its proper place as it has been previously adjusted by means of the gage device 111 to assume the proper position for the reception of the stamp. If two stamps are to be affixed to one envelope, the gage is properly adjusted to allow a convenient and suitable displacement of the envelope for this purpose.

Simultaneously with the operation of the plunger 100 the counter operating arm 104 has been depressed to advance the sprocket wheel 122 one step and this step will be communicated to the band 117 guided over roller 119 so that the numeral 1 will appear behind the window 123 and so forth until 50 stamps have been used, when the shifter 129 will come into engagement with the gear 127 in engagement with the gear 129 and feed the same for one step so that the numeral 50 will appear on strip 118 behind the window 130. Upon further operation of the plunger 100 the engagement between finger 129 and gear 127 will be interrupted and the band 118 will remain at rest as the shaft 121 is divided until 100 stamps have been used whereupon the numeral 100 will appear behind window 130 and so on.

It will be clear that changes may be made in the general arrangement of the machine and in the construction of the minor details thereof without departing from the scope and spirit of my invention defined in the appended claims.

WVhat I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A combined stamp affixing and counting machine comprising a removable roller for a roll of stamps, a frame holding said roller provided with means for removably attaching it to the. machine, means for advancing the strip of stamps unwound from said roll step by step through the machine, means for separating the single stamps from sa d roll, means for moistening the stamps,

an envelope supporting plate, means for de positing said separated stamps successively on an envelope deposited upon said plate, means for exerting a pressure on said stamp to aliix it to the envelope, means for gaging the envelope, and counting means actuated by said pressure exerting means to count the number of stamps used.

2. A combined stamp affixing and counting machine, comprising a removable roller for a roll of stamps adapted to be introduced into the machine and held therein, plunger operated means for advancing the strip of stamps unwound from said roll step by step, a support for said stamps, said support having an opening, a knife above said opening, means for normally holding said knife inoperative, a plunger for periodically removing said knife holding means, a spring for drawing said knife into operative position upon the operation of said plunger, means for advancing and moistening the stamp separated by said knife from the roll, means for allowing the introduction of an envelope into the machine, gaging means for saidenve-lope, a support for said envelope, means for guiding said stamp on said supported envelope, means for exerting pressure on the moistened stamp for affixing the same to the envelope, and counting means? for counting the number of stamps affixed, said last named means adapted to be operated by the operation of said pressure exerting means.

3. A combined stamp affixing and count ing machine, comprising a removable holder for a roll of stamps adapted to be introduced into the machine and securely held therein, means for advancing the strip of stamps unwound from said roll step by step, means for supporting said strip of stamps, means for cutting each individual stamp from said roll at the perforated dividing lines between the stamps, means for moistening said out off stamp, means for advancing said stamp, a supporting plate for an envelope, means for depositing the moistened stamp on said envelope, means for afiixing said stamp to the envelope by pressure, a plurality of spring controlled plungers adapted for manual operation to operate the above means in their successive order, and counting means actuated by the operation of said stamp affixing means.

4. In a machine of the class described, a removable holder for a roll of stamps comprising a frame made of two parts hinged together, means on said frame parts to allow a removable securing of the same in said machine, a roller on which the roll of stamps is wound, a shaft for said roller adapted to be exchangeably held between the lower ends of said frame parts, shoulders on said parts to support the same in the machine and a handle on said holder for manually manipulating the same,

5. In a machine of the class described, a removable holder, two partition walls in said machine provided with vertical recesses, said holder comprising two parts hingedly connected at their upper ends, means for limiting the inward movement of one of said parts, a plurality of prongs on said parts bent out of the plane of the same adapted to engage the outer faces of said partition walls upon the introduction of said parts into the recesses in said walls, a roller for a roll of stamps exchangeably held between the lower ends of said holder parts, and legs on said parts for supporting said holder upon the bottom parts of said recesses in the partition walls.

6. In a stamp affixing and counting ma chine of the class described including a roll of stamps removably held in the machine, means for advancing the strip of stamps unwound from said roll step by step, a support for said strip having an opening, a knife above said opening, a spring controlled plunger for operating said stamp strip advancing means, a spring controlled plunger for operating said knife, a nose on said plunger: normally supporting said knife, a spring for operating said knife upon the operation of said plunger for disengaging its nose from the knife to cut one stamp from said strip at the perforation between two stamps, a moistening means for said out off stamp, means for depositing said stamp upon an envelope deposited and held in the machine and affixing it thereto, and counting means actuated by said affixing means to count the number of stamps used,

Signed at Holyoke, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts this fifth day of June, A. D. 1924.

STANLEY J. KUZIEL. 

